Morgan yawned and put a hand on Sterling’s shoulder. “I’m headed to bed. Night, sweetie.”
Sterling laughed, but Reese thought it sounded a little forced. He avoided looking at either of them. “Do we need pet names?” Morgan asked Reese.
“No pet names.” Sterling said.
“I don’t know. You look like a Pookie to me.” Morgan teased.
Sterling followed Morgan to the door, but after she walked into the hall, he turned back to Reese, like he wanted to say something. They shared a long look.
This shouldn’t hurt so much. It shouldn’t feel like a breakup. But it definitely was a let down.
“Come on, Pookie!” Morgan’s laughter trailed through the hallway.
Sterling winced at the nickname. Without saying whatever it was he looked like he wanted to say, he turned and left.
Reese rested her forehead on the smooth wood of the door after it closed. She had been trying to tell herself that she was just enjoying a friendship with Sterling. But moments like this made it so clear that she wanted more. It made it so that she couldn’t lie to herself about her feelings.
Flopping back in bed, she turned the volume back on the television. The Property Brothers was almost over. She had missed all the ugly and hard work of renovation and only saw the happy couple and their beautiful, finished home that looked just like the dream house they always wanted.
Chapter Fifteen
Reese had been worried about jealousy as she helped fake this relationship, but what she should have been worried about was pulling it off at all. The whole thing was incredibly awkward and Sterling was not making it easier. Reese had never been on the set of a movie or TV show, but trying to take a few casual couples shots made her think of how actors were always saying that those romantic scenes in movies were never romantic on set. Hopefully, they did a better job at their very public lunch, but she couldn’t really imagine Sterling faking it in public when he was so resistant in private.
“Scoot a little closer together,” Reese said, gesturing with the hand that didn’t hold the iPhone. Morgan giggled and pressed her hips closer to Sterling. They were in the lounge at the back of the bus, Sterling’s request. Probably so that he didn’t have to do this in front of anyone, if the embarrassed look on his face was any indication.
“Better,” Reese said. Morgan was practically in Sterling’s lap, but it seemed like every time she wiggled closer, his body subconsciously leaned further away, even if he didn’t exactly move from his seat. “Sterling, just put your arm behind her on the couch.”
He shot Reese a look that she didn’t know how to respond to, then lifted his arm behind Morgan. She snuggled into his chest, smiling as her hair fell over him. Reese caught movement in Sterling’s Adam’s apple. His jaw tightened and Reese realized that if she didn’t start taking pictures, there might be explosions. Morgan looked up at him adoringly, but he stared out toward the window, his face firm and unsmiling.
Reese changed positions so that she was standing to Sterling’s side. Mostly the back and side of his head was in view. With Morgan curled into him, grinning that grin, it would pass. The look on her face and the way she was leaning against his chest made it look real. Even though Reese saw the reality behind the picture right in front of her, she still felt a tremor of jealousy. She wanted to be in Sterling’s arms. For real.
“Sterling, can you just look at Morgan? I’m behind you so you can smile or not. Doesn’t matter.”
He looked down at Morgan as Reese began to take pictures. She moved as much as she could without getting his angry look. Morgan suddenly burst into laughter, covering her mouth. Tears were running down her face. Reese paused.
“Sterling, you look like I’m about to kill you.” Morgan said. Without warning, she moved her hands, jamming her fingers into his side. Sterling burst into laughter and Reese took a burst of photos, knowing this moment would quickly end.
Sterling jumped up. “No tickling! I think we’re done. Are we done?”
“I’ve got what I need,” Reese said. At least a few casual-looking photos that would work.
“Reese, add that to the contract. No tickling,” Sterling said.
Morgan only laughed. If she was annoyed that Sterling had practically run away from her, she didn’t show it.
Reese rolled her eyes. “Sure. Next free moment I have.”
They hadn’t created a contract per se, but in a painful meeting, Reese created a Google doc of the expectations for the fake relationship. It was something she suggested and almost forced them to do, knowing that expectations could make or break even fake relationships. And hearts.
It was fairly simple. They had agreed not to share hotel rooms and not to kiss on the mouth in public. Mostly things would be G-rated, with hand-holding, hugging, and kisses on the cheek or forehead. If needed. Sterling wanted to do the bare minimum to sell this and he wanted it over amicably as soon as the tour ended. They had the other guys in the band sign non-disclosure agreements as soon as Reese realized there was no way any of them would believe in this fake relationship.
A few staged photos like this one and they were golden. Rumors and stories were already flying after the lunch Reese set up at a romantic restaurant on the road between Dallas and Kansas City. It had been lunch, not as good as dinner, but that’s what they had to work with. Paparazzi didn’t hang out in the middle of nowhere on Highway 69, but Reese dropped the name of the location on Twitter and made the reservations using Sterling’s real name. Fans did the job well enough, mobbing the restaurant and posting tons of pictures to social media. They were officially, publicly dating. Reese called one of the big celebrity sites with a statement after the fan photos started circulating.
Kevin seemed pleased with how things were moving. Reese texted him a few of the photos the first chance she had, just to show that she was playing ball his way.
His text came back almost immediately: Perfect. Knew you had it in you.
Reese shook her head. She didn’t want to have this in her. This kind of thing was not why she did what she did. Controlling the narrative was one thing; creating a false one was another.
Sterling had escaped the lounge like he was running for his life. Morgan drummed her fingers on the table. “How are the pictures?”
Reese handed her the phone and watched Morgan’s mouth tighten as she looked. “You don’t like them?” Reese asked.
“I’m sending a few to myself,” Morgan said. She pushed a few buttons and then handed the phone back to Reese and flopped back on the couch. Reese sat down beside her. “The pictures are great. The reality … not so much. You warned me. I know.”
“I’m sorry,” Reese said. “He’s not handling this well. I didn’t expect that, especially after he agreed to it. He probably didn’t think it through.”
“He’s not one to share personal things. It’s one reason we hired you and why he barely does in-person events or interviews. He’s a bit prickly anyway, but the introvert in him hates the spotlight.”
“His whole life is the spotlight,” Reese said.
Morgan shook her head. “There is a vast difference between the spotlight on a stage and the metaphorical spotlight when you’re sitting across the table from some reporter. Most people would be okay with the second, but crack under the first. Sterling is the opposite.”
Reese could see that. On the stage, Sterling came to life. Rarely in life did you get to see someone doing exactly what it seemed like they were meant to do. She saw that in him. It was beautiful and made her ache to find something of her own that lit her up. There was something exhilarating about planning and executing a social media campaign or even winning a board game, but those things felt so small. Everyone couldn’t have a big-stage life like Sterling, though.
“He’s very good on the stage,” Reese said.
Morgan laughed. “Everywhere else? Well, that’s up in the air.”
She sounded slightly bitter, her face drawn. It wasn’t a good look on Mor
gan. This was the first official day of the fake relationship and Reese was anything but jealous. She reached out and squeezed Morgan’s hand.
When Morgan looked up, her eyes looked damp. “You warned me.”
* * *
Sterling felt like the tour bus was shrinking. He wished he had paid more for the style of bus where his room was at the very back, not almost a hallway between the front of the bus and the back lounge. Morgan and Reese were in there and would have to come out, right through his room. Which left him with no escape. Bus bathrooms were not the kind of places you escaped to. Not even to use the bathroom.
He found Moby in the front lounge, video chatting. Sterling sat just out of view, watching Moby. Even without hearing the voice, it was clear Moby was talking to a woman. One he liked, based on the smile, though that wasn’t saying much.
“Some of us have to work,” the woman said.
Moby laughed. “This is me working, baby. Maybe you’ve got the wrong profession.”
“Probably. But your profession is what’s keeping you on the road and not here on a date with me.”
“You want a date?”
“What do you want?”
Moby grinned. “I thought you had to get back to work. I won’t have time to list everything I want. Plus, some of the things might not be appropriate with listening ears. Although this conversation might help Sterling with new songwriting material.”
She laughed. “Until later, then.”
Moby blew a kiss to the screen. The intimacy of the conversation had Sterling feeling itchy. Moby set the phone down on the table and rubbed his hands over his face. “This tour can’t end fast enough. I need to meet this woman.”
“You haven’t met her?” Sterling couldn’t hide his shock.
Moby didn’t seem bothered. But then, not much bothered him. He put his feet up on the table and leaned his head back into his hands. “Just on video. It’s Reese’s friend, Staci. She said she met you before.”
Sterling was surprised. “At the meet-and-greet where I met Reese.”
Moby laughed. “I heard all about that. Apparently Staci has a video. Said she’s keeping it to make sure Reese behaves.”
That moment seemed so long ago, back when Reese had simply been another fan who took things too far. Sterling had to see it. “I want to see it. Will she send it to me?”
Moby whipped his head to Sterling. “Only if you’ll let me watch.”
Sterling grinned and Moby had his fingers on the phone almost instantly. A few minutes later there was a notification and Moby opened up his email, clicking on an attachment.
It took until the third time watching for Sterling to lose his embarrassment enough to laugh at the video, where a tipsy Reese clung to him in front of the backdrop. Sterling’s face in the video looked like a stone. He was so furious that it radiated off of him. If Reese hadn’t been so affected by the alcohol, she probably would have run away, screaming.
“We need to save this for your rehearsal dinner, man,” Moby said, laughing.
“What?”
Moby held his gaze. “Oh, are you pretending like you don’t like her? Are we still doing that?”
“I don’t know what you mean. I’m dating Morgan.”
“Fake dating Morgan,” Moby said. “But we can play that if you want to. When you’re ready to man up about the fact that you are human and do, in fact, have feelings for Reese, come talk to me. I never shy away from talking about my feelings. That’s how I’ve got a girlfriend I’ve never met and you have a girl you like right in front of you and won’t do jack about it.”
Sterling’s face felt hot and he stood, wanting to get out of the room and away from the conversation.
“Dude!” Moby called just before Sterling got through the bunk room door. He paused. “Just don’t miss out on something when it’s so close. You know, that whole thing about not missing shots you don’t take and all. You feel me?”
“Yeah,” Sterling muttered, continuing on through the bus. Chuck and David were sleeping, or at least had their curtains pulled in front of their bunks. His room was empty and he could hear Morgan and Reese still in the lounge. Just the lilt of their voices, peppered with laughter.
Having to fake this thing with Morgan had strangely forced Sterling to confront the all-too-real feelings that he had for Reese. It was Reese he wanted snuggled into his side, not Morgan. He could still remember the way it felt to hold her on the balcony in Atlanta. That felt like years ago instead of a week. It was Reese’s hand he wanted to hold. Her face he wanted to see looking up at him with adoration.
Every time he finished a show and saw her face beaming at him from the side of the stage, it was all he could do not to grab her and claim her as his with a kiss.
With Morgan, he felt nothing but a severe need to escape.
Moby wasn’t wrong. Sterling didn’t know why he was resisting. Even though Reese said she was on board with this fake relationship, he had seen her hesitation. It had hurt that she hadn’t offered to be his fake girlfriend. But he also knew that her job made it tricky.
It still felt like rejection. Sterling couldn’t remember the last rejection he had faced of any kind. No one said no to him. Which made Reese pulling away feel like a cruel betrayal, even though it was far from that. He needed to remember that. She had also said yes to going to L.A. tomorrow. His heart beat faster just thinking about that. Two whole days with Reese apart from all of this.
I want to go, she had said.
Not, I will go. Or even, okay. She had said she wanted to go. With him.
With the baby-daddy story circulating and the new publicity about his “relationship” with Morgan, Sterling needed to be even more careful than usual. Travel would be more complicated. Typically, he could do the hat-and-sunglasses thing and go out in public. This might require a bit more discretion.
It helped that some Hollywood actor had wrapped his car around a telephone pole. He walked away, but his actress girlfriend had been injured, so that was the big news of the week. Sterling didn’t want to be thankful for something awful like that. But it did take the heat off him. He knew that being a rock star would mean being in the public eye, but the gossipy part of the public eye repulsed him. Both bad press like the pregnant fan and “good” press about his relationship with Morgan felt invasive to him. He just wished that he could make music and ignore everything else.
The lounge door opened as Reese and Morgan stepped through the door. Reese gave him a small smile and kept walking. His eyes followed her out. Morgan sat down on the bed across from Sterling, pulling her knees to her chest. She wasn’t smiling.
Curled up like that, she looked small and vulnerable and reminded him of the girl he grew up with. It softened his heart a little. He knew she was taking one for the team with this fake relationship thing and he hadn’t made it easy on her.
“You okay?” he asked. Morgan nodded, but didn’t speak. Sterling sighed. “I’m sorry if I’ve been a jerk.”
“You hate this,” she said. Not in a hurt voice, but a matter-of-fact one.
“I don’t hate you,” he said.
“But you also don’t like me like this.”
“It’s fake, Morgan.”
“It is,” she agreed. “Hopefully, soon we can break up or fizzle out and you can go back to being alone without the public pushing its way into your life.”
“I thought you said we had to keep this up for the whole tour.”
Morgan laughed. “We’re on day one and it’s freaking miserable. You think we’ll be able to pretend for the rest of the tour? No way.”
Sterling had known Morgan for half his life, even if they hadn’t been close or seen each other as often over the past few years. Sterling had suspected from time to time that Morgan might harbor feelings beyond friendship. Their lunch date earlier that day, arranged by Reese in a very public restaurant, made this very clear.
Before they left in an Uber, Reese had given them instructions, which felt very mu
ch like a mom sending two kids on a date.
“The purpose of this is to be publicly visible as a happy couple,” she had said. “That doesn’t have to mean a lot of PDA. Keep to your contract. Remember that you guys are old friends. I’ve seen you joke and laugh and enjoy each other as friends. Do that. Maybe with a little hand-holding. Or leaning close. Pull the chair out for her. Touch her back as you walk. It’s simple things, small things. And try to relax.”
Sterling knew that last line had especially been for him. He had been tense before they even got in the Uber. Meanwhile Morgan was especially peppy and held his hand even when no one was looking. He thought her bright mood was just to draw him out of his equally dark mood, but as the date went on, Sterling realized with a jolt that it was because she truly wanted to be with him. On a date.
Morgan beamed when he put his hand on her lower back as the waitress walked them to their table. When he pulled out her chair, she tilted her chin up to him, looking through her lashes. She took his hand on the table as they looked through their menus.
It was the first time Sterling found himself nervous around Morgan. She had said yes to this idea because she wanted to help. Made it sound like she was doing it for him. But he knew it was more. By the time they left the restaurant, Morgan was leaning into him and looking up at him adoringly, even as teenage fans mobbed them on the way out to the Uber back to the tour bus.
As he stared at her across his room now on the bus, he didn’t know what to say about this. The fake relationship or her clearly real hopes. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he didn’t want to date her. Hopefully their friendship was strong enough to last through one fake relationship.
Managing The Rock Star (Not So Bad Boys Book 1) Page 15